Page 72 - The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future

Hawaii and our Future Sea Power. 53

there will be no hesitation about taking the
positions — and they are many — upon the ap-
proaches to the Isthmus, whose interests incline
them to seek us. It has its application also to
the present case of Hawaii.
There is, however, one caution to be given
from the military point of view, beyond the
need of which the world has not yet passed.
Military positions, fortified posts, by land or by
sea, however strong or admirably situated, do
not confer control by themselves alone. People
often say that such an island or harbor will give
control of such a body of water. It is an utter,
deplorable, ruinous mistake. The phrase indeed
may be used by some only loosely, without for-
getting other implied conditions of adequate
protection and adequate navies ; but the con-
fidence of our own nation in its native strength,
and its indifference to the defence of its ports
and the sufficiency of its fleet, give reason
to fear that the full consequences of a forward
step may not be weighed soberly. Napoleon,
who knew better, once talked this way. " The
islands of San Pietro, Corfu, and Malta," he
wrote, " will make us masters of the whole
Mediterranean." Vain boast ! Within one